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Kiyasui Iro
Kiyasui Iro, or A is the former Raikage of Kumogakure. Well known for her charismatic attitude, she's well liked among the people of the land. Another thing she is renowned for is her expertise in economic stability, which is what led to her being once being considered for the position of Daimyo, a position she had turned down. Under her watchful eye, the Land of Lightning's economy has boomed, making it an economical powerhouse. Though she once served under Kumo's military, she hasn't fought since then, which was when she was still rather young. At twenty-two, she has given up the reigns of combat in exchange for the handling of the economy. Kiyasui believes that Kumogakure and the Land of Lightning has a chance to be saved and she will do everything in her power to keep it financially stable, to give it something that keeps it afloat. She does not believe in judging someone based on their appearances, as she believes looks can be deceiving. She saves that until she meets with them personally and get to know them from an individual perspective. Having been entrusted with the Treasured Tools of the Sage of the Six Paths, Kiyasui has mastered each of them and keeps them safe. The only one she does not possess is the Kohaku no Jōhei, which has been sealed in a vault and is to be used only for a last resort. Kiyasui's life was always about becoming something great, though it was never how she expected it would turn out. She always had big dreams of doing something that got her name out, an opportunity to prove that she is someone of great importance. Life threw many curveballs for her to overcome, even pushed her down a few times. But she kept getting back up, because she wanted to become a person of legend in Kumogakure, no matter the odds that were stacked against her. Her draft into the military was a decent start for her. She found a way to let her knowledge be of great use in battle, which got a few whispers of her skill. She continued pushing up that ladder, making her way up to Senior Commander, her tactical expertise gaining the words and impressions of the village. But it was her mastery over her Kekkei Genkai, her Storm Release, that got everyone to acknowledge her, the way she combined her skills with Kei's Lightning and Mamoru's Ink that pushed her into renowned status. Her ascendency to Raikage further pushed her into idol status, an inspiration of simple beginnings rising to legendary feats. Since then, she has proven to be a shining symbol of everything Kumogakure stands for; Preservation, strength, kindness, and strong will. Kiyasui is a follower of her own Nindō; The Will of Lightning. As sure as the lightning strikes the earth, it leaves its mark there forever, by granting life around it. As such, Kiyasui strives to make her mark wherever she may strike upon the earth. After many years as Kumogakure's esteemed Raikage, she relinquished her title to Kiyoshi Yuri Background Kiyasui Iro grew up with largely modest origins. She never wanted to get into combat, so she never went into the academy. Instead, she studied economics so she could one day help the world in her own way; By boosting the land's economic proficiency. When she was eighteen, she was, despite not really wanting to, drafted into the Kumogakure military. Kiyasui Iro doesn't have a lot of strength, though she has strong powers in her Storm Release and has shown a promising military career during her life, helping put an end to many insurrections and a civil war. Her first taste of combat began against an initial coup against the village brought on by an insurrectionist group. They launched a surprise attack upon the village, using an Explosion Release user to blast down the walls leading to the village. Kiyasui was part of a small group of specialists trained in more unique skills, though she herself had little training, given there was only a few days of preparation. But she helped lead the group into battle against the enemy forces. By having the group spread out and guard key positions of the village, they kept themselves hidden, perfect for an ambush. The ambush was largely successful, leaving only the Explosion Release specialist against Kiyasui. The battle between them was intense, eventually pushing into close quarters combat when both of them realized their ninjutsu cancelled each other out. From there, Kiyasui found herself with an edge. Out of instinct, she began weaving away from the enemy's strikes, using the momentum of her movements to set up her attacks. With subtlety and grace, she pushed him back with an open palm before using the Lightning Release Body Flicker, appearing behind him and delivering a Laser Circus at close range, putting an end to the initial insurrection. The battle left Kumogakure's defensive walls compromised, meaning they would need to rely on their forces more often. Because of how well she handled herself against the insurrectionists, she was assigned as commander of the Special Ops Squad. After another few days, a second insurrection erupted outside of the village, this one larger than the last. They were angry over their first defeat and were out for revenge. Consisting of several Fire Release, Water Release and Earth Release users, they began chipping away at Kumogakure's defenses. Kiyasui once again found herself leading her Special Ops squadron into the fray. With a storm fast approaching, Kiyasui found herself with an idea; Slow down the enemy's movements while providing clear cut paths for her squad. Once the storm arrived over the battlefield, Kiyasui began pulling energy from it, controlling the storm itself to her advantage. From there, she dropped torrential amounts of rain over the enemy, while leaving her allies dry and with a clear path to run through. The enemy, on the other hand, was stuck ankle deep in water, cutting down their movements. Using this to her advantage, she delivered bolts of lightning from above, electrocuting a large amount of the enemy's forces. With the forces weakened, her allies finished up with the rest, putting end to another insurrection. Her two successes granted Kiyasui a promotion to Senior Commander at the age of twenty, making her the youngest soldier in Kumogakure's military to reach that rank. It was here where she'd be assigned alongside Kei Yotsuki's group. And the timing couldn't have been better. Double agents from Kumogakure began attacking the village from within, leading to a brutal civil war over not just the double agents, but the insurrectionists as well. Kiyasui found herself teaming up with Kei and Mamoru, using their skills to help push back the insurrectionist forces while the rest dealt with the double agents. The insurrectionists here were far more powerful than the last, with skilled Kekkei Genkai users who excelled in Blaze Release, Lava Release and Acid Release. This was where Kiyasui's mastery over Storm Release was made apparent. By the time they'd utilize their skills, Kiyasui would drown them down with torrential downpours that rendered their Kekkei Genkai useless against the onslaught of her storms. With Kei's mastery of Lightning Release and Mamoru's mastery of Ink Release, the three dealt a devastating triple hitter threat that tore through the ranks of the insurrectionists. After many days of pushing them back, the insurrectionists finally surrendered, and the double agents were imprisoned for their acts. The village was dealt a serious blow, not to just their economy, but to their structural might, as well. To have double agents hiding within their walls put a severe blow to their reputation. This put the village under tight scrutiny for a while, enough that the previous Raikage stepped down from power, leaving the position empty. It was here that Kiyasui knew that someone needed to take charge. So she stepped up and began with the most important step to bringing the the village back to its feet; Restoring economical stability in the village. She had a lot on her plate, but she was ready to do whatever it took to bring the village back up. Harkening back to her studies in economics, she put her skills to work, reworking imports and exports to be more timely and more efficient by paving a path that led straight down the mountain that didn't lead the exporters into danger. She spent months catering to every part of the village's economy, slowly bringing it back up and rebuilding the village bit by bit. She earned her status as Raikage and earned the trust of the people by being someone who wasn't afraid to step up when the going got rough. Now, at twenty-two, she watches over the village with a protective eye, her status as a leader never faltering. During her time as Raikage, she began working on building ties with other villages to help rely on their aid whenever she'd need to. Helping build trusts with Konohagakure, she'd meet Seigetsu Senju, a young man with a promising career. The two built ties with each other that began to strengthen the more they learned about each other. Their relationship eventually became romantic, and she would become his fiancee sometime after his ascension to Hokage, which would help further strengthen the ties between Kumogakure and Konohagakure. After many years serving faithfully as Raikage, she felt it was finally time to retire. Having heard wind of many of Kiyoshi's efforts and skills, she saw no better person to lead the people of Kumogakure, granting him the title of Raikage. Personality Kiyasui is the kind of person who would remind someone of the woman who can speak her way out of any confrontation, using kind words instead of harsh to break up a situation. She's kind and always sees to the need of the people before her own needs. It's this kind personality that makes her approachable and likable among the people, and it helps make her a believable figure in a position where most would use lies and deceit for their goals. Kiyasui keeps an open opinion until she learns of how a person acts herself. She does not believe in judging someone before meeting them. This respectable personality has allowed her to be a very approachable individual who is always willing to answer whatever questions are necessary in improving the Land of Lightning. With an open mind and an open heart, Kiyasui's easily approachable, always being someone anyone could talk to about nearly anything. With this easily approachable nature, in battle, her opponents often underestimate her caliber of skill. In combat, Kiyasui is a calm minded combatant, her mind focused only on the battle at hand. Nothing changes her mind in the flow of combat, constantly pushing through her opponent's attempts of intimidation. For her, there is no such thing as fear in the middle of combat, only statistics and skills. A lot of her positive personality hides her lesser revealed feelings. Having been diagnosed with PTSD following the war, Kiyasui oftentimes has flashbacks of moments she'd rather forget. But she knows the number in her head of the comrades she's lost, their names, and their ranks. And that's something that will never escape her. Despite the emotional turmoil she has been in since the civil war, Kiyasui continues to strive for greatness, always showing the smile that provides so much inspiration for the village she leads. Her constant, positive outlook on life, even in her darkest moments, gives her clarity and peace of minds that helps her weather the one storm she has no control over; The storm that often clouds her mind. But with her positive attitude, she can ride through it, use it to take her to new places, new heights, and new horizons. Appearance At first glance, one would not see Kiyasui as a Raikage until they got closer. Dressed from head to toe in a military dress uniform with the Senior Commander stars on her shoulders, she keeps a respectable appearance that ensures that she is someone whose visual aspects describe leadership. Her hair is a tone of golden blonde wrapped up into a single bun on the back. Her eyes are an oceanic blue, the kind of eyes that inspire leadership. Very rarely, one can see her in her casual outfit, letting her hair freely down, showing just how long it is, while sporting a blue, full body jumpsuit that hugs her figure comfortably. Abilities Though she no longer fights as often as she used to being the Raikage, her skills with Storm Release still make her a formidable force to not be trifled with. She is still dangerous with her ninjutsu and can fight back at a moment's notice if she sees that her life is in danger. She's smart enough to use her ninjutsu sparingly and during situations where they are at their most powerful. As a master of Storm Release, she has become an iconic figurehead for Kumogakure, a source of inspiration for those who fought alongside her in the civil war. Ninjutsu Ninjutsu was Kiyasui's dominant skill in the military. Capable of a vast variety of Storm Release, Water Release and Lightning Release techniques, she dictated the pace of the battle just on her ninjutsu alone. Fighting her anywhere near a source of water was tantamount to suicide, as the source of water allowed her to use more powerful Storm Release techniques, such as a Water Dragon that fired electrically charged water bullets to inflict near lethal amounts of damage. Because of her vast knowledge with her elements, she could use some high level ninjutsu techniques with just one or two hand seals, allowing her to use a wide variety of techniques at her disposal. Her mastery over ninjutsu is displayed most fluently in her usage of Lightning Release Chakra Mode. This mode increases her speed and reflexes dramatically, and she has shown to have grasped it excellently. By using its effects to their fullest, she utilizes it not to just cut off her opponent, but to throw them off as well by having it work on independent parts of her body. She has learned how to alter the flow to affect either her arms, legs, or just her pure reflexes. The lightning still flows around her body, but that's meant to keep her body protected as a failsafe to keep it from damaging herself. By using it in tandem with her Storm Release: Pirouette Tempest, Kiyasui can create tornadoes with wind speeds of devastating proportions, all while being protected by her Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Storm Release Mastery ]] Bearing the Kekkei Genkai of Storm Release, Kiyasui demonstrates mastery over it that hasn't been seen since Darui was Raikage all those years ago. Her demonstration of the Kekkei Genkai has been shown to full effect in the civil war, ending many insurrections with a single flash of water and lightning pushing her foes back. Her mastery over the kekkei genkai has earned her the moniker of "Kumogakure's Storm Dragon", named after the signature technique she utilized in the war. Her Storm Release has brought fear to her opponents and morale to her allies, knowing that when the storms come, Kiyasui isn't too far behind. With but a drop of rain and a little bit of lightning, Kiyasui can harness incredible amounts of energy with her Storm Release, turning a single drop into a massive tidal wave of water and lightning. Her intelligent usage of Storm Release allows her to manipulate the flow of a thunderstorm to her advantage, turning every flash of lightning, every raindrop into a powerful weapon to use at her disposal. By manipulating lightning itself, she creates a defense that allows her to split a lightning bolt in two, preventing any harm to her. The second half of her Storm Release, water, allows her to create a defense against the element, flowing it away from her. She can manipulate the flow of tidal waves and still remain dry in its presence. She is truly a gifted master of the Kekkei Genkai, using it greater than anyone else ever has in order to protect her village. Kiyasui relies very little on hand seals, since her mastery of Storm Release allows her to manipulate storms at will to use freely. All she has to do is pull from her Storm Release chakra to create a conduit for a storm to flow to. She has been considered a human thunderstorm because of this and she has demonstrated it before in the civil war by turning a massive thunderstorm into her own personal weapon to fight off the insurrections that faced her. When utilizing hand seals, Kiyasui can create truly destructive forces of Storm Release unseen by any other user. She can create supercells that create destructive tornadoes, inescapable gusts of wind, torrential bouts of rain that seem to lean on biblical. Hailstones the size of melons are of little effort for Kiyasui's Storm Release. At her full power, her Laser Circus: Sujiyuu attack is utterly devastating. Capable of destroying entire villages with a single blast, Kiyasui can render countries themselves nonexistent with a well placed attack if she had to. This is her ultimate offense against Preta Path users. Trying to contain enough power to atomize an entire city is more than enough to destroy most who attempt to absorb her Laser Circus. With such a prestigious knowledge of Storm Release, Kiyasui has proved to be a true master of the art, turning it into a work of poetry, every rain drop a word, every bolt of lightning an action, every rumble of thunder a statement. Kiyasui uses every form of her power to create a statement that she's there, and she's making her presence known to the world, to say that even with her skills pushed back from her days as Raikage, she can still carry on through battle with a never faltering edge. Her Storm Release is a call to arms, a symbol of inspiration of a woman who grew up simple, but matured into legend. She's a source of motivation for those who have none, with every time a bolt of lightning graces upon Kumogakure, Kiyasui has arrived. She stands tall, like the village she calls her home. The storm clouds are her constant companion, her eternal ally in combat. It's something she can always rely on when she needs to push back her opposition, no matter the odds. Her dedication to always pushing herself beyond her absolute limits fuels her desire to become stronger. And every day, those storm clouds that surround Kumogakure lift her up when she struggles, proof that she has truly become one with the storms. Lightning Release Proficiency By utilizing the first half of her Storm Release, Kiyasui is capable of elite caliber usage of the element of Lightning Release. This is shown to full effect with her utilization of Lightning Release Chakra Mode, a skill few Raikage have been capable of demonstrating. With her unique method of its utilization, she is perhaps the most proficient Raikage in its usage, manipulating every aspect of the armor. She can create powerful shields to protect herself with, manipulate the flow of chakra to individual areas of her body to increase strength, speed and reflexes, or anything else in between to suit her needs in battle. But Lightning Release Chakra Mode isn't her only utilization of the element. By creating Lightning Shadow Clones, Kiyasui can assault her opponent with a full on rush of clones to deliver large amounts of damage, especially when the clones are imbued with Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Though her skills in Lightning Release are nowhere near the caliber of her bodyguard, Kei Yotsuki, she doesn't let that deter her. Instead, she trains under him from time to time to further enhance her skills in Lightning Release. With her training alongside Kei, Kiyasui has learned how to further incorporate Lightning Release into her taijutsu. By increasing the output of lightning through her limbs while using Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Kiyasui can deliver devastating punches and kicks that wreak havoc upon her opponent's central nervous system, temporarily rewriting it entirely. Amongst other things, Kiyasui has learned how to effectively give shape to lightning itself, creating paths of grounding for it to flow through by manipulating subtle charges in the air. With this demonstration of lightning manipulation, Kiyasui shows how every strike of lightning is an unpredictable work of art that is shaped with a careful artist's hand. All that's required is a path of least resistance for the lightning to travel through to create monumental works of art with her Lightning Release. The ground below her is her canvas, the lightning her paint, and the electrical charges in the air, her brush. By pushing her art even further, Kiyasui can manipulate magnetic flow via the lightning that flows within her. By delivering a diverted mix of negative and positive charges, Kiyasui can create a magnetic field around her or her targets. This allows her to redirect metal objects thrown at her, either towards her to grab them, or against her target, a careful application of her art over the forces of lightning. With her skills being pushed ever further, it is apparent that there is much Kiyasui can do with the power of lightning, but at the same time, there is still so much she is capable of learning. Every day, Kiyasui is training herself, pushing her skills in Lightning Release to that next level, always improving, never daunting in her goal of becoming someone worthy of note in not just leadership, but by the way she holds herself even in the most intense forms of combat. A careful application of Lightning Release means training herself to use these skills with as little chakra spent as possible. So intensive, chakra reduction training has allowed Kiyasui to utilize her Lightning Release with up to as much of half the chakra required for normal use. She has also followed Kei's training even further, allowing her to use the basic techniques without handseals, allowing her to deliver quick, precise attacks that pepper her foes down with significant amounts of damage dealt. Her art in Lightning release improves day after day, with each breakthrough pushing her further and further towards clarity of mind. By utilizing hand seals for her basic techniques, she can push their powers to incredible levels, capable of widespread destruction on an epic scale. She takes pride in her expertise over Lightning Release, considering it the biggest half of her Storm Release. Water Release Proficiency Kiyasui is no slouch in using the second half of her Kekkei Genkai, water release. With her skills in water release, Kiyasui can slow down her opponents significantly by flooding the area enough to slow their movement down drastically, while Kiyasui can easily create a path in the water for her to run in to ensure her speed remains unaffected. By creating torrential amounts of water, Kiyasui can change entire battlefields to her and her allies' favor, creating dry spots for them to run through while her foes attempt to tredge through the intense amounts of water. Defensively, Kiyasui can manipulate flows of water, even from her opponents, splitting entire tidal waves in half to ensure she remains unharmed by the water. This application of Water Release is her music, every drop of water an instrument, and every flow of a river, a creek, a pond, her symphony. To Kiyasui, water is a truly beautiful thing. It's the one thing required to give life, but it's also capable of taking it away. This fluid of life and death is her musical escape. A beautiful song written by every flow of water by Kiyasui describes her soft heart, her open mind. Every flow of water Kiyasui feels, she can hear it sing, a beautiful song written by her control. Her careful movements in the water is almost poetic, satisfying, like the very water acknowledges and respects her very existence, like everything she does, the water follows with her. The rain itself pulls from the sky to bask in her presence, as if she was a goddess of water itself. A truly inspirational sight for those who experience it for themselves. This display of Water Release is her music, her soul, the very thing that grants her life. The very source that brought her life has become one of her closest companions, an eternal guardian that keeps her safe, just as the storms and lightning do. Her family of weather, her eternal allies. Her tender application of Water Release allows her to utilize basic Water Release techniques without the use of hand seals, allowing her to push her foes back with an endless torrent of widespread attacks that slow her foes down and give inspiration to her allies. Her gifted talent with Water Release has given her an edge over her opposition, the rain that drops quietly over the village of Kunogakure giving her the guidance to continue pushing herself to the next level. She sees the rain as her mentor, her silent tutor. Watching her with each drop of rain that falls to the earth. By utilizing hand seals on her basic Water Release techniques, Kiyasui can turn even the basic water bullet into a torrential cannonball that swamps her foes in a biblical rush of water, pushing her foes back as her allies continue to push forward. Intelligence Kiyasui's intelligence is in a league all its own. Considered both a tactical and economic genius, she planned ahead and kept several contingency plans backed up in case her primary plan failed. During her time in the military, just about all of her strategies went off without fail, utilizing her unit's strengths while covering their weaknesses. Because of her intelligence, she reached the rank of Senior Commander at the age of twenty-two. Nowadays, she uses that intelligence to keep the economy in the Land of Lightning stable and constantly expanding. In combat, Kiyasui utilizes her intelligence to identify her opponent and their moves by keeping an eye on how they move and fight. Eventually she finds their rhythm and can find out when they're telegraphing their moves and can counter off of that. She keeps a numerical value of her chakra levels and can know by heart how much chakra she has expended in battle by the direct percentage. Chakra Supply and Proficiency Kiyasui possesses an incredible amount of chakra, rivaling or even exceeding that of a Jinchuriki. This has been demonstrated by the massive barrier that surrounds Kumogakure. The barrier is incredibly huge, easily twice the diameter size of Kumogakure, complete with unpredictably powerful storms that rival on apocalyptic. She had enough chakra in her to make the barrier self sufficient. Her extremely high chakra levels allow her to deliver a barrage of chakra taxing attacks that seem to do little effect to her stamina. Combined with her ability to reduce the chakra of most of her techniques, she can use most of them almost indefinitely. This high chakra also gives her incredible stamina, allowing Kiyasui to keep herself fighting, usually winning the battle of attrition in the long run. As such, she has plenty of stamina to utilize her strength and speed whenever she has to. Taijutsu Kiyasui's taijutsu is at a whole other level, further strengthening the Raikage's specialty in the close quarters art. Her sleek frame hides a dangerous style of taijutsu. Self taught under the studies of the previous Raikage, she taught herself every trick in the book of each prior Raikage's arsenal, including the Liger Bomb and Lightning Release: Lariat, both of which she has modified to suit her needs. Instead of just dropping the opponent on their back with the Liger Bomb, Kiyasui grabs them in a bear hug and drops them headfirst in a devastating piledriver. No one has survived this attack as the force not only shatters the opponent's skull, but also directs that energy upwards into their spine, obliterating the spine. In terms of the Lariat, Kiyasui can use the raw speed of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode by directing it in her legs, allowing her to deliver a Lariat that's unseen, but devastating and highly lethal. By utilizing her Lightning Release Shadow Clone, Kiyasui can create a second clone cloaked with Lightning Release Chakra Mode to deliver the Lightning Release: Double Lariat. Though it is a very energy intensive move, it's a battle stopper if it connects, meant to kill her opponent outright by decapitating them. Her taijutsu is further enhanced by her knowledge of the powerful technique mastered by the Third Raikage, known as the Hell Stab. This powerful technique is enhanced by the Lightning Release Chakra Mode and can pierce through nearly anything that it makes contact with. Kiyasui's usage is just as unique as her other taijutsu abilities. By cutting off her opponent's movements with lateral angles, Kiyasui catches her opponents off guard and deliver the Hell Stab when they're distracted. When done correctly, few ever see it coming. By forcing her opponent in the air, she can once again transfer the energy of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode into her legs and catch them mid-air, delivering a crushing Guillotine Drop that slams them to the ground with unbridled ferocity. Durability Kiyasui possesses an extremely thick body. Having taken attacks that would kill most people several times over, she has used this to her advantage. Her high durability allows her to utilize the Lightning Release Chakra Mode without any physical drawbacks to its full usage. She can take incredible amounts of damage at any given point, and is even able to withstand the Heavenly Transfer Technique with little more than a short bout of lightheadedness. This also allows her to use some of her more powerful techniques, like her Laser Circus: Sujiyuu, which is capable of atomizing even Preta Path users who attempt to absorb it. She, on the other hand, is largely unaffected by the energy building up in her body before its release. Speed Like the previous two Raikage before her, Kiyasui prides herself in the careful ability of speed. The training she pushed herself through with her years of taijutsu and body conditioning training has allowed her to increase her body's natural speed to incredible levels. By merely looking like she's standing still, attacks can hit against her that seem to make impact against an invisible field, but this is her blocking them faster than even the human eye can comprehend. Her speed is of great importance to her, as it allows her to close the distance to her opponents, delivering an unseeable assault that leaves her foes confused and disoriented as they try to grasp what happened. Some have seen her for half a second, only to see a massive blast of energy leave a crater in the ground with Kiyasui nowhere in sight. When combined with Lightning Release Chakra Mode, her speeds are at their near absolute peak. Time itself can slow down enough that she can take her time to attack her opponent with a well coordinated assault that leaves her target weakened and unable to retaliate against her attacks. Quotes With this attack, I will show you why they name storms after people. - Kiyasui shortly before releasing her Laser Circus: Sujiyuu People of Kumogakure. I know, this isn't the most formal ceremony, a lowly lass with some war experience stepping up to the podium of Raikage. But with the way things are, someone needs to step up. Our last Raikage has vanished, without a trace, having run off to who knows where, leaving the spot vacant and people scared. Well, this is me taking the spot back. I'm assigning myself as Raikage of Kumogakure. Some of you may be thinking if I've gone mad, if the war's knocked a few screws loose from my head. It hasn't. If anything, it shows that there needs to be a leader who can settle things without having to resort to violence. I want to show we're more than just combat, that we can settle things peacefully without pointing fingers at everyone. I want to be that person, the one that can lead us into a prosperous period of peace. That's what we need right now. We need to pick ourselves back up, stick with the family we haven't yet lost to war. We need to be able to rebuild, to pull ourselves back up from the brink of chaos. But to do that, we need to stop fighting amongst each other and work together. Unity provides the unshakeable bond between man and country. And to do this, I am assuming the position of Raikage. If you want to stop me, charge at me now and pull me off from this podium..... No? Okay, then. Let the recovery of this village begin! - Kiyasui's speech as Raikage. Sometimes complex and difficult moral choices are decided less by reason and by right than by sentiment. Perhaps such decisions are paving stones on the road to Hell; if so, my route is well paved, and the welcoming committee already knows my name. We who survive must go on in the names of those who fall, but if we dwell too much on the vivid details of what we’ve witnessed of man’s inhumanity to man, we simply can’t go on. Perseverance is impossible if we don’t permit ourselves to hope. From all these friends, I could not escape learning some of the statistics that I preferred not to know. Forty-one people on the final day of the civil war had been wounded. Nineteen had died. Everyone said it was a miracle that only nineteen perished. What has gone wrong with our world when nineteen dead can seem like any kind of miracle? - Kiyasui's thoughts on the Kumogakure civil war. Fate isn't a straight road," I said, becoming the oracle that earlier in the day I had declined to be for her. "There are forks in it, many different routes to different ends. We have the free will to choose the path. - Kiyasui's musings on a fallen comrade.